Who golfs: Danny English, Hixson boat builder

Danny English picked up the game of golf as a kid and loved it into adulthood.

Then one son came along, and then another, leaving his golf clubs to gather dust as his children sprouted.

But one day, his boys dusted off the clubs and hit a few balls in the yard. Next thing English knew, he was off to Moccasin Bend to play golf with his sons.

A membership at Valleybrook Golf and Country Club soon followed in 2002.

"It was cheaper for me to join here than to pay for them to play every day of every weekend," said English, who waited on a friend Tuesday afternoon at Valleybrook. "I took a lot of time away from the game, but my boys got me back into it."

English said he has a career-best of 78 at Valleybrook and usually shoots in the mid-80s.

He owned a recreational boat when he started playing again. But he was fed up with his job after about 12 years and drove down Adams Road where Mclaughlin Boat Works had a sign for help wanted.

"They asked, 'What do you know about fiberglass?'" English said. "I know quite a bit. So I took the job, and now I build small sail-boats for children up to 15 to race."

And he's since ditched the boat he owned.

"I used to have a boat and now I golf," English said. "It's like any other job when you do it all the time, boating became more work than enjoyment."

Golf is his current pleasure.